After He Left Us

Summary: After Ron left them in the middle of nowhere, Harry and Hermione come to terms with a lot of things, including their feelings towards each other.

After He Left Us

Weeks
had passed following Ron's break
up from their journey. He had given up on them. He left Harry and
Hermione stranded in the middle of nowhere in favor of warm bed and
home cooked meal. He choose what was easy over what was right. Oddly
enough, Hermione was the most upset. She spent her nights crying to
sleep days after Ron left. Harry tried his hardest to console her.
His guilt rose in abundance seeing his best female friend suffer. At
first, he really could not fault Ron for leaving them. It was his
intention in the beginning to not taking them with him but Ron had
insisted to come whatever his reason was at the time. Now after all
this time they spent in this journey together when things got really
hard, he walked out of it and that hurt.

At
the third day, Hermione had stopped crying completely. Harry did not
know what brought her sudden changes but was happy about it
nonetheless. She continued her research of the Horcruxes, of the
Deathly Hallows and of grey hexes and curses from the book that she
had liberated from the Black family library. Harry busied himself
with training battle movement from the same grey books, sharpening
his reflexes and broadening his multi-spells combinations; Abilities
that Hermione insisted that he learn.

They
had grown closer during the next week. They spent their night
chatting about their life and started to share a bed. Nothing
happened except some cuddling to ward off cold from the chilling
November nights. Harry learned more about Hermione's pre-Hogwarts
life from those nightly chats than the seven years they had spent
together at the school combined. Harry too, after some persuasion
from Hermione, spilled the rather dark history of his life at the
Dursley. It helped that during these nights, Hermione held him in her
warm hug until they both fell asleep. He still spared Hermione some
of the worse details though but she now knew the general idea of it.

Hermione
spent the remainder of the night crying until dawn with Harry
sleeping in her arms. This time it wasn't because of the betrayal
of the lanky red haired boy but for the beaten and battered boy
sleeping in her arms. That night she made a vow to protect Harry, to
stand by him no matter what. Everyone who loved him had left him
alone to bear this impossible burden. Harry had been deprived of love
since the very beginning of his life and what small amount of it had
been robbed from him far too soon.

Hermione
regretted her decision last year to give up on Harry for
Ron. She had thought it was a lost cause anyway since Harry never
looked her way in a romantic sense. She surmised all of his caring
and compassionate gestures to her for the last five years as only
brotherly feelings but now she was not sure anymore. Harry had not
known love; he would not recognise, it let alone justify it. It could
all have been love all along. Yet, even if he would only think of her
as a sister, she could live with it. At least Harry would always be a
constant in her life as she to him. Ron could not hold a commitment.
His twice betrayal had proven it. Hermione's mother had warned her
of that kind of people.

"I
will stand by you Harry. No matter what. I wish I can tell you that I
love you so much." Hermione whispered to the dark haired boy who
was sleeping beside her. Then she sealed her vow with a light kiss on
his dry lips. Harry did not stir until dawn.

The
following morning found Harry spooning Hermione on their shared bunk.
It was not the first time he woke up to this but something seemed
different that morning. He felt happier than the previous morning. He
even felt happier than
he did in a long time since Dumbledore's funeral. He tried to jog
his memory of their previous night's talk to try to remember what
it was that made him deliriously chipper this morning. He remembered
telling Hermione about his life at the Dursleys. That was a sour
memory, so it did not make sense to be this happy about it afterward.

Giving
up, he decided to wake up and carefully entangled his limbs from
around Hermione's sleeping form to go to the loo.

"Morning
Hermione!" He greeted his best
friend who was still sitting on the bunk rubbing her sleepy eyes. She
looked worn out and tired with dark circles around her eyes.

"Morning"
Hermione let out a yawn escape her mouth, then looked at Harry. He
looked like he had just come out of the bathroom. Water was still
dripping from his hair and he stood there holding his wet towel in
his right hand. A boyish grin adorned his face. "You seem awfully
chipper this morning."

Harry's
grin went wider at her annoyed look. Really, she looked so cute when
she's like that. What?
Do I really think Hermione's cute? Well, she is. There's nothing
wrong with admitting to the truth. With messed up hair and pouty
lips, not to mention her small crease between her eyebrows when she's
thinking something or annoyed just like now. Oh dear Merlin! Potter
you're doomed. When you think a mused up, unbathed, annoyed
Hermione cute then you're definitely doomed. Merlin! She makes
Ginny look like fake.

Harry
was a little startled by his revelation. This thought made him warm
and tingles spread through his body. His body felt lighter when he
stepped towards her. An evil smirk formed on his face and with a
quick act, he wrapped his wet towel around Hermione's sleepy head
making the girl shriek.

"Harry!!
This is not funny!" Hermione struggled for a few seconds with
Harry's towel. When she finally got free, Harry had doubled over
the bunk at her side with laughter. She slapped the towel on Harry's
back repeatedly but the victim boy just laughed harder.

"Stop
laughing! It really was not
funny, Harry!"

"Oh,
yes it was!" Shouted Harry back between his laughter.

"At
least you could dry it up first."

"Wouldn't
be funny if I did that."

She
huffed and walked to the bathroom while muttering about boys and
their childishness along the way.

Harry
looked at her retreating back from
his position lying on his side on the bunk with his arm supporting
his head. Her hips were swaying delightfully while she walked with
her pyjama bottom riding low on her hips, showing him the small dent
in the middle of her lower back. Harry did not remember her wearing
this small and sexy looking pyjamas when Ron was around. Had she worn
them for him?

Groaning,
Harry dropped his head on the bed and banged his head on it several
time. Damn!
Potter. You're screwed when you start to think delusional thoughts
like that. Of course she's not wearing them because of you. She
just didn't have the time to wear it before now. Oh yeah! And I am
Merlin.

He
let out a long sigh and muttered. "I am so screwed."

Their
relationship went
through a prominent shifting starting that morning. They became
closer than before and Harry was flirting with Hermione almost every
day. Hermione was surprised by this but she elated at the same time.
She did not want any more complications in their new warmer and more
intimate relationship, so she decided to be honest with Harry about
her feelings. If Harry wanted to continue flirting with her, he had
to know about her feelings.

Therefore,
five days later when the night again found both of them sharing one
blanket, Hermione told Harry everything. She told him that she had
fancied him since the first year and that she admired his sense of
justice and adored his bravery. His friendship had answered her
longing of acceptance. She had found kindred spirit in him that she
had vowed to forever be his best friend for as long as he wanted her.
She would never leave him no matter what and that feeling had
developed into affection at the beginning of third year. That year
she was devoted, truly, deeply in him. Although she had promised
herself never to hope for any return feeling from him, she could not
help but wish it. Harry's affectionate gesture and caring to her
had made it hard for her not to fall for him. It had been hard to see
him fall for other girls and last year was the last straw for her.
Her devotion to him had made it impossible for her to have a
relationship with other boys, because if she accepted other's love,
then it would have meant she would be away from Harry; that was why
it had not worked with Viktor Krum, because other boys would not
understand her special relationship with Harry and by addition Ron.

"So
why did you date Ron?" Harry asked.

"He
was … the closest thing to you. Dating him would have meant … I
wouldn't have to leave you because he's your best friend and we
would still be together. And the fact that he fancied me made it
easy… at that time but …"

"But
he left us anyway. He left you. He left you but you stayed."

"I
told you I would never leave you. Do you remember how I was after he
left Harry?" Harry nodded. "I was so distraught. Not because I
was in love with him but because it hurt when the one we trust turned
his back on us. I stopped crying after three days because finally I
made up my mind that he was not worth it."

Hermione
touched Harry's cheek and caressed it with her palm. "You are
worth it Harry. And considering my reason to pursue romantic
relationship with him, I think … If he can leave you then why
should I care about him? He definitely does not care. He is just like
other boys who doesn't understand us, doesn't understand me. He
made me choose while my reason to return his feeling was you. Since
the start of sixth year, I struggled with my-self whether I made the
right decision but he made it easy that night. When he made me
choose, it was clear to me that Ronald Weasley and I would never
work. I will never trust him anymore. He had a rather bad record on
trust, you know."

"Yeah.
With you in third year and me in fourth year and now…." Harry
looked deeply into Hermione's eyes. "But you never leave me
Hermione. You were always there for me even when I was stupid enough
to trust a mere book over you and risk your life in fifth year.
Merlin, I am sorry for taking you for granted - I… "

Hermione
put her finger on his lips, automatically stopping his apology. She
smiled at him saying with her eyes that he was forgiven already.

Hermione
looked
into his eyes when she said that. Both of them laid side by side,
facing each other. Her eyes penetrated deeply into Harry's heart.
He saw honesty in those chocolate orbs. He saw the depth of
Hermione's devotion and felt her love for him glow in her eyes and
it warmed his heart. He was not alone in this. Now he was sure she
felt it too and his heart sparked with renewed energy. By Merlin, he
could see it in his mind now what his future would be like, and in
all of them, there was Hermione. For a seventeen years old boy who
could never foresee his future before and who was always surrounded
by death, that was a tremendous achievement. For the first time in
Harry's short and miserable life, he felt hope. For the first time
since the funeral, Harry felt sure that he had more chance to defeat
Voldermort than ever before. He would win this war if only to have
Hermione constantly in his future life.

His
relationship with Cho, the girl he had
dreamed of for three years, had only brought more trouble to his
already difficult year at school. Even when he was involved with
Ginny, when he thought she made him happy, what he felt when he was
with her were pale in comparison to what Hermione made him feel right
now.

So
once again, Harry took a leaf from Gryffindor book. He charged ahead.
There it was, right in front of him; hope, happiness, future and
love.

That
night changed everything although actually everything did not really
change. Everything was still the same. Harry was still affectionate
with her and cared for her with the addition of kisses every now and
then. Hermione was still worried about him and worked hard to help
him win the war. Another addition was when she worried too much Harry
would hold her and kiss her thoroughly, leaving both of them
breathless and hot. They spent every night cuddled up together,
sharing kisses, tasting young love and the beauty of making love.
That was by most their favourite part of the deal.

It
was awful. The adventure of breaking into Batihlda Bagshoot's home
has proven to be disastrous
and had cost them Harry's Holly wand. Hermione had lent him her
wand. Harry had refused at first but Hermione had insisted and said
that Harry was a better fighter than she was. Hermione had once again
frozen in place when Nagini recoiled and poised to strike her. Her
legs had felt like lead and stuck to the floor. It was first year all
over again with the stinking troll looming over her small, hunched
form under the sink. It had called for Harry's quick reflexes to
get her out of that situation by diverting the snake's attention on
him and in the end, made him broke his wand. It was no one's fault
actually but Hermione felt guilty anyway.

--*--

Harry
had done many stupid things in his life. When he thought about them
afterwards, he always regretted them. Just like now. He shouldn't
have left Hermione's wand at the tent under their pillow but they
only had one wand and Hermione might need it to protect herself if
something happened when he was away. He had promised himself to
protect her just like she protected him all this time. Granted he
should never have left her on her own like this in the first place,
but the glowing doe Patronus was so beautiful and mesmerizing that it
compelled him to follow its path. Now he was shivering next to an
almost frozen lake with a cursed locket and an irate prat of a
so-called best friend and no wand.

Harry
had
just finished stabbing the locket with Gryffindor sword that he had
fetched from the bottom of the cold lake. Ron stood beside him with a
strange expression on his face. Harry thought he knew what was on his
mind right now. The part of Voldermort's soul that had arisen from
the locket had played with their mind. It had taunted Ron with images
of him and Hermione making out, saying and pointing out all the
things that Ron was envious of Harry. The deserter prat had appeared
out of nowhere to help Harry out of the lake and by some unfortunate
incident, he had happened to be the one who held the sword. Harry
wanted to end the Horcrux right away, so he pulled the locket from
his inside pocket and put it on a slab of stone. He commanded in
Parseltongue to open it and told Ron to stab it with the sword. When
the images were shown, Harry did not trust him to hold the sword, so
he summoned the boy's wand and knocked him off with the
Expelliarmus,
then finished the business by stabbing the cursed locked right at its
centre. Green evil looking smoke rose up from it and it let out a
long bloodcurdling scream into the air. They had to shut their ears
with both hands in an effort to protect their eardrums.

"Is
that true Harry?" Ron
implored after they regained some of their sense of things and their
ears stopped ringing from the blood-curling scream of Voldermort's
part of soul.

Harry
looked at him briefly, then picked up the Sword.

"You
have the gall to ask that."

A
frown formed on Ron's forehead. "What do you mean?" his
confusion showed on his face. "I asked…"

"YOU
left me Ron!"
Harry's voice barely hid his anger toward the lanky red head while
he pointed Ron's own wand at his face. "Left US alone in the
middle of this blasted forest! And now you have the gall to ask
that?!"

Harry
moved forward and
pointed the wand right in front of the other's boy's nose. "You
have betrayed me Ron. Twice. And I've had enough of it. I have
revoked your rights on this journey. I don't have to answer
anything to you anymore."

"But
I saved your life!" Ron tried to argue while his eyes darted
nervously on the business end of the wand in front of his nose. He
knew that an angered Harry was dangerous.

"Oh
yeah? I've saved your father's and your sister's life at a
great risk of my own and don't forget I saved your life too last
year, remember?" Harry's eyes hardened. "Should I call for a
wizard's debt, Ron? I'll say that you and I are even."

"Should
I remind you that this is MY journey? Despite my refusal to take the
both of you with me, you INSISTED to come along." Harry's sneer
matched the one of Draco Malfoy's. "Hermione does not have a say
in this. She can drop out of this if she so much as wants it. After
all, had she 'chosen' you, as you so eloquently said, she would
follow you that night. The fact that she stays with me speaks out
loud about where her loyalty lies."

"I
don't believe you." Panic made Ron loose his bearing quickly and
he shouted it to Harry who ignored it.

"Fine"
Harry said calmly. He dropped the wand and fingering its end with his
left hand fingers. "Tell you what. I'll give you a shot to ask
her yourself, to humour you, and let's see what she'll say shall
we?."

"Hermione
will listen to me." Ron said determinedly

Harry
snorted loudly "Since when?"

When
he saw the red head was scowling and his face was getting redder, he
lifted Ron's wand again and pointed it across the other boy's
shoulder.

"Move!"

When
Ron refused to budge, he lifted his eyebrows impatiently. The red
head turned around in a huff and walked towards the tent.

Hermione
was pacing in front of the tent's flap anxiously.
An hour ago, she had been sleeping soundly in a warm cocoon that was
Harry's arms but when she awoke thirty minutes ago, she found out
not only Harry had left her to sleep alone, he was also nowhere to be
found. She had searched everywhere around the tent even a few steps
away from their ward but still she could not find him. Then she
started to think and worry that Harry might leave her. She dismissed
that thought completely after a minute. Harry had had his fill of
betrayal. He would not do that to her. If it were to happen, it would
be herself leaving him, not the other way around, but of course, she
would rather die than betraying Harry. She had promised to Harry and
to herself that she would stand by him no matter what.

A
dim light in the middle of the dark forest to the left side of the
tent broke Hermione out of her musing. Her initial response was to
panic. She thought that Death Eater had found out their hiding place
or worse snatcher had. She ran back into the tent to summon her wand
then crouched near the inside of the flap to peek outside. The light
had become brighter and soon she saw that it was a wand light.

'Perhaps
it is
Harry' Hermione thought 'But Harry does not have a wand and I
have my wand with me'

Hermione
was waiting nervously. She wanted to run but remembered that Harry
was still missing. What if they had caught him already?

'Then
I must not run. I am the only one who can save Harry from the inside
if he is caught'

With
that new resolve, Hermione hardened herself, running a list of every
possible worse curses, hexes, and jinxes in her mind, reliving all
battle strategy that Harry had thought her the past couple of months.

Then
he heard her name called.

Harry
saw the tent about
ten paces in front of them. After they walked a few more steps, he
called out to Hermione. When she took more than two minutes to come
out of the tent, he assumed she was still sleeping. Then two minutes
later the bushy haired girl peek out of the flap with a nervous face
and wand in hand. Harry cursed himself inwardly for acting like a
stupid Griffyndor again. Charging ahead without so much as a thought
of consequences. She had to be worried to find him gone. She probably
thought that he was caught by some random Death Eater or snatcher.

He
called again.

"Hermione
it's me, Harry. Come out and look who I found"

Harry
turned to Ron when he walked to follow him into the ward.

"Stay
here!" The other boy opened his mouth to protest when Harry spoke
again. "The wards will repel you. We modified it to only allow us
to enter"

Fuming,
Ron accepted it and waited just outside of the ward's boundary
while Harry walk through it meeting Hermione half way to the tent.

"What
is he doing here?" Hermione asked harshly. Harry reckoned she was
still upset towards their so-called best friend, well ex best friend
if they wanted to be honest. "I thought he was back at the Burrow
sleeping in his warm bed and eating mommy's warm meal."

Harry
took a deep breath and sighed while running his left hand through his
hair.

"Err…How
to say this… he wanted to redeem himself…" He said looking at
Hermione in the eye.

"Alright
it might be too much. He …" Harry struggled to find a word.
Inside he questioned himself why did
he make excuse for the git? Maybe it was the good in him that would
like to give anyone second chances. Well that kind of thought had
cost Dumbledore his life. So maybe this time he would pass.

"He
wanted us back." Harry said. Clear and simple. "I think he may
have thought of it through and decided to come back or …"

"Or
he was just wandering around all this time. Lost and starving. When
finally he found you, he decided to join us rather than die of hunger
out there. Merlin knows, he only thinks with his stomach!" Hermione
hissed.

"I
think he would be dead if he was lost for all the time he left us"
Harry pointed out. Really, with stomach like that, Ron would most
likely be dead if he did not eat for three days.

"Fine!
Then he went back home. Found out that the situation there is no
better than here, perhaps his house is destroyed and they have had to
move to Hogwarts and fight. So he decided to come back to us thinking
less food is better than loosing his life. Regardless of what his
reason is, Harry, I won't take him back. I can't forgive a
betrayer. Not now, not ever. Should I remind you that we're in a
war Harry. This is no child's play. Any kind of betrayal is
unacceptable. If he can't get that into his tick head and tea-spoon
size of a brain then he should get the hell out of here and away from
us because I don't care!"

"I
don't know what moral they teach in this wizarding world - or is it
just him? but if he thinks that it's okay to betray his best friend
over and over again because he can't act mature, then he has
another thing coming. Just because he's Pureblood and well versed
in wizarding society doesn't mean he can step on us. If we accept
him back he will never learn and I am fed up with his constant
whining all the time."

With
that lengthy rant
finished, Hermione shot past Harry to the edge of the ward where Ron
stood impatiently. Hermione had pointed out unarguable grounds there.
The more Harry thought about it, the more he sided with her.

Seeing
Hermione approach
him eagerly, in his mind she looked eager to see him, the Weasley boy
smiled brightly at her.

"Hermione!
You'll let me in, right? I was thinking about you a lot these past
couple of months I can't leave you alone. I care for you too much
for that."

"Well,
you should not leave in the first place then."

"Oh
you know me. I don't mostly think with my head when I was upset."

Hermione
regarded him with cold eyes. She folded her arms across her chest.

"Get
lost Ron. We don't want you here anymore."

"What?
But you need me. I can help."

"I
am sorry but we can handle it by ourselves. We had to, you know,
because our prat of a best friend left us stranded in the middle of
nowhere after emptying our ration and had the gall to complain about
it. We come out pretty good you know. With one less mouth to feed,
made this journey more bearable."

"But
I know all of your project and secret; surely you can't dismiss me
just like that. What if some Death Eather caught on that
information…"

"That
won't be a problem."

Hermione
waved her wand in front of Ron's face and incanted "Obliviate"

Harry's
jaw dropped in shock
of what his girlfriend was doing to their other (Ex) best friend.

"Now
Ron, you won't remember anything about Harry's project. What you
need to know is that you left Harry for your own selfish need. I
allow you to remember where we are right now because it won't be of
any use if the next time you want to look for us again. We'll move
our tent away from here and you aren't likely to find us again. Now
go!"

Ron
blinked his eyes several times before focusing on Hermione

"So
are you coming or not Hermione?"

"I'd
rather be here with Harry than anywhere with you Ron."

"Fine!
Then you choose him. You always choose him. I should've known."

Harry
had shaken
himself out of his shock long enough to realise he still had Ron's
wand. He called out to the red head and threw him his wand.

"Ron!
You forgot your wand!"

Ron
caught it with a bit of confusion marred on his face but dismissed it
within seconds, thinking he had really forgotten his wand in his
fury. With a glare towards Hermione and Harry, he spun around and
disapparated with a crack.

Hermione
turned around, walked past Harry into the tent. Harry just stood
there in disbelief of what Hermione had done to Ron. After he shaken
himself out of his stupor he followed his girlfriend inside to find
her packing.

"Hermione?
Wh…."

"It
has to be done Harry. He know too much of our secret. I only removed
the knowledge of the Hhorcruxes
and the Hallows. He will think that you are away to train to fight
Voldermort but will be at loss on what we are doing while we are away
since we left Bill's wedding"

Harry
tilted his head to the side thinking about her reasoning and found no
flaws in it except for the erasing memory part.

"But
you're okay, right? With what you have done to him?"

"I
erased my parents' memories of me. I assure you that was a hundred
times harder for me, you know."

Harry
walked over to her and touched her shoulder. She was busying herself
with packing her books and kitchen utensils but he knew she just
acted strong while her insides crumbled.

"Hey…"
Harry's voice
was soft and soothing.

He
turned
his girl around and opened his arms to her. She shot like a bullet
and buried her face in his chest. Seconds later, Harry was consoling
a sobbing girl in his arms. He had become good at it after consoling
the same girl few months ago and holding her in his arms every night
for a week afterwards while they slept.

Harry
knew that
Hermione was not upset because she had to erase Ron's memory. It
had to be done. She was more upset about the reason behind it. Of
Ron's betrayal. Of her parents' Obliviation.
Harry could only imagine how hard it was for her to erase her
parents' memory of her and knowing that they would not remember
her, which meant that she could consider herself an orphan. Harry
vowed to himself that he would finish this war and come out of it
alive. He had a reason to live now. He would do anything to ensure
Hermione's happiness. He loved her so much it hurt to be without
her. Together they would live. Together they would succeed. Together
they would love.

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
maaldas

Elizabeth Robbins:
4.5 starsAs far as apocalypse stories go, this one took a new direction. I'm glad someone finally addressed the need for a vampire apocalypse! This is sort of a multi-genre festival of delights. With hints of forced societies, vamps, hunters, romance, apocalypse, government conspiracy, and thrill...

ga1984:
I really enjoyed it! Characters were deep and plot was pretty complex. A bit on the violent side but it doesnt detract from the story. Very dark but situations make sense. Ends kinda abruptly and later chapters will need some editing work. I'm assuming there's more in the works?

Alice Liu:
Whoa! I've been wondering how would the Maurauders react to Harry's life and here we go! YOU ARE THE BEST! All the characters are consistent with their personalities shown in the book! I love how you compare Lily with Molly and it's definitely true for her being a mother! I wish Peter comes have ...

Schaelz:
I was intrigued from the second I started reading, and it kept my interest the whole way through. Chelsea has a way with words that will enchant you until the very end. She is very poetic with the way she mixes genres and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The main character is also very relat...

Lauren Suzmeyan-Raine:
I'm so glad you found a place to post your stories. I was horrified when I saw yours had been taken down, they are definitely the best 'reading' stories I've ever read. And I've made it my business to read every one I can. Well done.Lauren

ernbelle:
When I first started this story I was a little unsettled by all of the information that appears in the prologue, and wasn't sure if I would continue. However, I am very glad I did. The plot was very well thought out and really interesting. There were not any page breaks or markers to acknowledge ...

Hawkebat:
Playing both Kotor I & II and Swtor I found the story line interesting and it held me until chapter 35 Very good story and plot flow until then, very few technical errors. I felt that the main character was a bit under and over powered, as it fought for balance. The last few chapters felt too f...

MavisMcQueen:
"To Live Again" is a well crafted, highly engaging, heart vibrating tale surrounding our favorite Elven King. The author will keep you engrossed until the very end and by that time you will feel so strongly for Clara and the other characters that you will never want it to end...like ever. Thrandu...

Tiffany Thomson:
This story is not something I would normally pick up and read but I'm so glad I did, I wasn't able to put it down and my husband was yelling at me at 3am to put it down and go to bed (just waited for him to doze back off before picking it back up) I really hope Natalie brings out another book eit...

Deleted User:
This is a very clever story in the style of 19th century (and turn of the century) Gothic writing, very reminiscent of Stevenson's The Body Snatchers or even of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (less so of Frankenstein itself, since the author is more minimalist than Shelley's florid, Romantic rhetoric). ...